Parishioners who have occupied a closed Massachusetts Catholic church for nearly a decade said they plan one final petition to Pope Francis to prevent the building from being sold by the Boston archdiocese.

Jon Rogers, a member of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish in Scituate, said petitioning the pope was a last-resort measure. Despite the step, he said he was not sure it would succeed.

"We promised 10 years ago when we started this we would exhaust every avenue of appeal," Rogers told Catholic News Service on Tuesday.

Saying the United States has a special responsibility to the people of Iraq, the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace called for diplomatic measures rather than a military response to the crisis facing the country.

Pope Francis has appointed three priests of the New York archdiocese to be auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese.

They are Msgr. John Jenik, 70, pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Parish in the Bronx and vicar for Northwest Bronx; Fr. John O'Hara, 68, vicar for planning; and Fr. Peter Byrne, 62, pastor of St. Elizabeth Church in New York City.

The appointments were announced Saturday in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The three men will be ordained as bishops Aug. 4 at St. Patrick's Cathedral.